Music Happenings; Your Music Source by Chris Bryan

The hills are alive with music this summer and The Rulon Kelly Team has found your music oracle on suggestions on what to hear and who to see in the Roaring Fork Valley. Our latest blog interviews Chris Bryan, Aspen Daily News's music columnist with how he came to love the beat of music and what he is most looking forward to this summer.

What is your favorite lyric?
Impossible question! But I’ll play along. I’d say it’s this: “I’ve got a lot of friends/ And they’ve got beautiful eyes.” That’s a refrain in “Asleep From Day,” a Chemical Brothers song off the “Surrender” album. That lyric has always been lodged in my brain, and it’s so oddly meaningful. Plus I love the vocalist in that song – Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star.

What was your first concert?
Here’s a startlingly honest answer: Milli Vanilli – the opening act was Young MC (of “Bust a Move” fame).

Who was your favorite band at age 17? Who is your favorite band now?
At age 17, I had a solid foundation of classic rock and was listening to more alternative music. I was heavy into The Pixies, Joy Division, The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as R.E.M. and The Smiths. I was begrudging of the burgeoning grunge movement at the time. Now, I’m hard-pressed to name a favorite, although one of them is the Drive-By Truckers – headliners at the Blue Bird Festival in Snowmass at the end of June. They are a southern rock band, but not as country-fried as the name of that genre may suggest. Their earlier records are more alt-country, or dare I say cow-punk. Their latest album is defiantly political.

If you could play an instrument fantastically well what would it be?
Organ/Piano

If you could have a drink with one rock star dead or alive, who would it be?
Keith Richards. His book “Life” raises a lot of questions about how he made it this far.

Who introduced you to music, or was it self taught?
My mother insisted that I take piano lessons in elementary school, and I’m eternally grateful. My parents had a phenomenal record collection; stumbling on that was a watershed moment. I also had an older cousin who played guitar in a rock band in the 1980s, and I thought he was the coolest. A good friend of mine in middle school also loved classic rock and learned guitar listening to his dad’s records, so we spent countless hours doing that.

What is the most legendary concert you have been to?
If “legendary” means memorable, I’ll say the Phish New Year’s Eve concert from Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in south Florida. They came on the stage just before midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, and played more than seven hours continuously, until dawn on Jan. 1, 2000. Epic, and long.

What are you looking forward to hearing most this summer?
Summer music is the best. I’ll be at Red Rocks for a Widespread Panic show the last full weekend of June. And my brother is taking me to my first U2 concert during their “Joshua Tree” tour. Locally, the Roaring Fork Valley has so much to offer musically. I’m very excited to see the Seratones from my hometown in Louisiana at Bluebird Art + Sound Festival. Snowmass generally is offering up some awesome music this summer, including Hot Buttered Rum, Lukas Nelson, and the Freddy Jones Band. And Belly Up has some incredible concerts, from Shakey Graves and Cut Copy to Gary Clark Jr. and Thievery Corporation and Chris Isaak. The best part of this valley is that there’s something for everyone, in every conceivable way.